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Success in sales is often about overcoming negatives rather than emphasizing positives. Similarly, success in management is often about avoiding failures. Reaching budgets brings short-term success, but to maximize career success, it’s important for a manager to avoid failures.
What constitutes failure? Falling short of goals or violating firm policies surely do, but subtleties might sidetrack a career, depending on the judgment of those who evaluate the manager.
Avoiding failure means understanding the culture, values, personalities and priorities of those who evaluate you and behaving accordingly. Yes, I’m talking about office politics. To ignore office politics is to invite failure.
-Kip Caffey, Cary Street Partners